Pages

Thursday, November 24, 2016

The Black Canary: Siren of the Superheroes

It was 1947. In postwar comic
books, superheroes were on the way out and women were on the way in.

Romance comics had just arrived,
and even titles like Action Comics
and Detective Comics now had women displayed
on their covers as prominently as the resident superheroes.

Over at Harvey Comics, the popular
super heroine Black Cat had been awarded her own title in 1946. At Timely, in Captain America Comics 66 (Dec. 1947),
Bucky got the boot, replaced as Cap’s sidekick by Golden Girl. In Marvel Mystery Comics 82 (May, 1947), the
Sub-Mariner met his crime-fighting super-cousin Namora. The Human Torch would
team up with Sun Girl.

The creation of writer Robert
Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino, Dinah Drake was originally a masked
Robin Hood criminal, a sexy foil for the dunderhead superhero Johnny Thunder.

As she became more law-abiding,
the jiu jitsu expert also deftly tossed Johnny out of his own feature and the Justice Society of America. She
appeared in Flash Comics until
publication ceased in 1949 and with the JSA in All Star Comics untiltheir
run ended in 1951.

The Black Canary was back a little
more than a decade later in dimension-hopping adventures with the Justice
League of America. In 1965, she teamed up with Starman for two issues of Brave and the Bold, apparently as a
tryout for a revival (DC did the same thing with an Hourman and Dr. Fate team-up).
As comics became more adult in later decades, her relationship with Starman was
revealed to be adulterous.

In 1969, when her husband, private
eye Larry Lance, was killed, Black Canary joined the JLA and coincidentally got
tricked out with a super power — a destructive voice — presumably to make her
more useful. Really, she was there to replace Wonder Woman, who had lost her
powers the year before and become an Emma Peel-style mod crime fighter.

The Black Canary has been around,
in form or another, ever since, appearing more than once on television (in the 2002
WB series Birds of Prey, in the 2012
CW series Arrow, and elsewhere).

Subscribe To

About Dan Hagen

"This trenchant commentary, which makes the big syndicated "on-the-other-hand" columnists look like Goebel Gerbils, is why I still believe that real journalism gets done most often at the personal newspaper level. Thanks for sharing this. Dan follows one of journalism's proudest traditions!"
— Paul McMasters, the First Amendment ombudsman for the Freedom Forum, on Dan Hagen’s newspaper columns

Why Odin's ravens?

Perched on the shoulders of the Norse god Odin are the pet ravens Huginn and Muninn, whose names mean “Thought” and “Memory.” At Odin’s bidding, they fly across the face of the world and bring him knowledge. In the 13th century Poetic Edda, Odin reveals that he fears that they may not return from their daily flights. He has pampered his pets by rewarding them with the ability to speak, and it’s truth that they tell, even though the Raven is, of course, a Trickster.

Product Warning

"This article contains a significant amount of intelligence, analytic fact, common sense and eloquence. If you suffer from a 'freeze-dried' FOX News brain or enjoy a Rush Limbaugh lifestyle of blissful ignorance, avoid reading, as it may be hazardous to your health. A major side effect is thoughtful reflection." — Ian McDonald

Copyright

I love crows and ravens for their wisecracking voices and for that black-on-black gleam of sagacity in their eyes. They figure things out. They see us. They know us for what we are, which is why they keep a wary distance but remind us, with their taunts, that they are not overly impressed.